Wrexham Vets v Ruthin Vets match preview

How can you even think of missing this game?! Keir Harding reports.

19 days ago | Gary Williams

These are times of great change and adversity in the fair land of Wales. Brexit looms and with Brexit comes uncertainty. The media is full of apocalyptic stories which range from carparks on the motorways, drug free hospitals and shops lined with empty shelves. In Wrexham this nightmare scenario has come true already. Electrical suppliers have huge gaps where their tape used to lie. Chemists harbour only a void where the Vaseline once stood. Painkillers cannot be found from any vendor in the Wrexham area, But is it the fault of Brexit that bare wires are igniting fires across Flintshire? Is it the EU causing the pensioners of North Wales to chaff more than usual? Can we blame Angela Merkel for the adolescents of Wrexham being unable to numb their hangovers?

We cannot. We can only blame the geriatric Wrexham Veterans side who have risen like the skeletons in Jason and the Argonaughts to take to the field once more. Players like Chris Phillips have mummified themselves with tape, Ross Roberts looks like a tape ninja, while Mike Jones has created a tape gimp suit. When the players found that rubbing deep heat on wasn’t enough to feel supple again they began drinking it by the gallon. Preloading with painkillers began weeks ago. The Vets game is on, and the fire safety, chaffed shin and analgesic requirements of North Wales can go hang. Wrexham Veterans, players over the age of 35, last took to the field 7 years ago under the careful stewardship of Darrell Hughes. The body takes a long time to recover at this age and we’ve all decided that 7 years is an adequate time to return to peak fitness.

Wrexham have been through a turbulent period over the past years and with the first team now breathing hard down the necks of the league leaders, this veterans gathering is seen as a step forward in the reconciliation and unity of the club. 45 players have made themselves available, including at least 9 former captains. Ruthin will be bringing the heat as the opposition and the competition is sure to be tough as old rivalries ignite and arguments from 20 years ago are recommenced. While the Wrexham team is laced with quality the priority is for people who have worn the badge of Wrexham Rugby Club to take to the field together again. With the game divided into 4 quarters the first 3 will roll back the clock as team mates from yesteryear go out to battle once more. We will compete, but we will enjoy the company and solidarity of having people in their 60s join us at the coalface for a final run. Some will play the full 20 minutes, some will not make it to the first blow of the whistle, but we will all share the fun and the glory.

The 4th quarter will be different. This is the one we want to win. Here we sod the friendship and solidarity and stamp some Ruthin farmers into the ground. Those who still have breath in their lungs will be expected to shed their blood for Wrexham and spill the blood of the Joskin enemy. With vengeance is in our hearts, death in our hands, blood and revenge hammering in our heads, we shall obliterate the Ruthin vermin and enjoy a beer in the club with them after.

The players are listed below but seven years since the last game suggest that Fridays clash would not be possible without the goodwill of the committee and the efforts of Brendan O’Mally, Becky Pomeroy and Sion Lloyd-Jones.

To dispel the myth that there is no substitute for experience, to listen to knees make the sound of a bonfire kindling and to see many men who had thrown away their boots taking to the field the play the game with their friends that they love, we hope to see you at Bryn Estyn Lane for 7.30 on Friday February 8th. After the game there will be a raffle, heavy drinking and many stories of dubious substance told about glories past. We will no doubt raise a glass to those who we know would have been playing but left life's field too early. See you Friday